George Adamson: Lion tamer who couldn't tame poachers
National
By
Amos Kareithi
| May 01, 2023
In the heart of the most famous game sanctuaries in the troubled belt of Northern Kenya, brewed a strange love between an Indian-born conservationist, an Australian artist and lions and his clashed with poachers.
This romance between George Adamson, Joy (Australian) and the lions had blossomed into a marriage. Their adventure with the lions had started in 1956 when George who was a game warden then took home three motherless cubs. One of the cubs named Elsa later starred in a film of "Born Free."
While the lions and the leopards adored the Adamsons, there was a deep loathing of the couple by poachers who several times attempted to wipe out the retired game warden.
The experiment of domesticating the big cats at some point turned tragic when one of the lions attacked a man and ate him at Kora, forcing the government to terminate the project in 1980. The offending lion was also shot by George.
To ward off the threat posed by bandits, George surrounded himself with 16 lions, some of which had made him and his wife famous from books and a film, which had documented their adventures as they raised orphaned lion cubs into adulthood and then released them into the wild. He had rejected offers by the government to boost his security at Kora and refused to relocate in the mistaken belief that his 16 lions and six workers formed an impregnable defense.
This couple which had achieved a rare feat by winning the love and trust of the lions were unable to earn universal love from their neighbours.
Joy, died in controversial circumstances in 1981 when a teenager Paul Ekai, whom she had adopted and was working for her killed her in fit of rage over a salary row.
Two years after his ex-wife's killing, George had had talked of a plot by bandits to kill him and in the process cause the withdrawal of game rangers and police officers in the game reserve.
On August 21, 1989, George went down under a hail of bullets as he tried to run over his three attackers in his car. The retired game warden aged 83 had been drawn from his camp by gunfire.
A suspect, Ahmed Abdi Shurie was charged with his murder was set free by High Court Judge Joseph Mango in July 1992 arguing that it would be a miscarriage of justice to rely on a single witness.
Joy's killer, Ekai who had been in custody for 26 years serving under presidential pleasure because at the time he committed the offense, he was below 18 was released by Mwai Kibaki in 2005.